Octopus of Odstock

In the midst of all these heart-attacks, Estanislao Basora, one of Spain's greatest strikers, and a former DDP pick, died last week. Surprisingly, no UK or English speaking media have picked up on it at all. A couple of posts previous to this mentions Souza of the USA, who died just before Basora. Souza scored one to Basora's two in the 1950 Spain-USA clash. An obit in Spanish - http://www.lavanguardia.com/deportes/futbol/20120316/54270177440/basora.html

Magnificent actor was Madoc, and by heck, just remembering the "Don't Tell Him Pike" clip when I heard the news, let alone seeing it again, brought a smile. RIP

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4170977/Did-Nazi-Adolf-Hitler-live-to-old-age-in-Bariloche-Argentina.html - son says he's still in "good health"

A word of caution with Peter Andre's "ill" relatives - similiar online magazines to the one in DDT's link said that Peter Andre was flying home in December 2009 to be with his terminally ill dad, Savvas. Hence, I thought a decent 2010 pick for the DDP. Not only is Savvas not terminally ill, he only bloody appears on Family F*****g Fortunes in late 2011, flying over from Australia, and looking in the best of health. Still, that hasn't stopped me adding Andrew to my DDP long list.

Pola Ilery dead - http://fan.tcm.com/_In-Memoriam-Pola-Illry/blog/5787492/66470.html?as=66470

I think Al-Bashir of The Sudan would have to run Mugabe close of current leaders who have "killed" more of their own during their rule. There's a few very dubious characters still in charge - mainly in Central or East Africa, a few of the former Soviet states in Central Asia and so on, but few as reviled as Mugabe. FWIW, I don't think he as ill as we suspected as he was very quiet indeed for a spell when getting treatment. He seems to have a bit more funk about him lately, however, I'm not convinced he'll see his 91st birthday, 90 tops...

Same here, which was silly really as his fame in America would at least mean a Guardian AP "obit". Ah well, c'est la vie.

Am I missing something here? Dominick Dunne died nearly 3 years ago, in 2009. Either you've got a very slow news feed, there Grand Pablo, or it takes you a while to report a death. I thought Godot's 11 month hiatus between Gary Mason's death and then reporting it on here was a DL record never to be beaten...

Interesting, Mr Cooley. I have no doubt Rex Barnett is in a pretty bad way, but I have less doubt about an obit. The news of his cancer whilst Mayor of Swinedon made BBC News, but now he's an ex-mayor, it's a bit of a gamble. Worth a try though. The only other chap I would've put in in place of Barnett was John Skelton, paedophile and terminally ill chappie, but as the Northampton Chronicle was the only media outlet to report on Skelton, I don't hold out much hope he'll get a full-page broadsheet obituary, or anything else for that matter.

Great stuff, Blackie. (Although as your'e a Liverpool fan, maybe that's not the best moniker right now....) One thing I have noted though - the unique picks don't seem to be generating the right score - Symborksa and Youd both earn 7 points, where shouldn't it be 9? Seems to be two short each time by my reckoning? But I like the move towards the 21st century. It needed an overhaul but I never had the wisdom of how to go about it.

Lillian Lowe, "the World's oldest Facebook user", has logged out - http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/02/01/world-s-oldest-facebook-fan-dies-at-104-91466-30246044/

Apparently, yesterday he was deemed "fit" to testify. Seems to have done him in. Still, a 3rd DDP hit of the year for me, which is a bit better than last year's start for moi.

Born 20 years and one day later than Mieres was fellow "M" surnamed racer, Francois Migault. Sadly, he too, joins Mieres in the great racing track in the sky. Due to cancer, judging by this photo, he aged a lot in his last years - http://www.lemainelibre.fr/actualite/francois-migault-est-mort-29-01-2012-27962

Charles Price II, one time DDP selection and former US Ambassador to Great Britain and, of course, as everyone recalls, Belgium, has died, aged 80. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/charles-price-reagans-ambassador-to-belgium-and-britain-dies-at-80-in-southern-california/2012/01/13/gIQAp4rywP_story.html Pardon me if there is an Ambassador's thread somewhere on this fora and I've posted it in the wrong area.

Beat me to it - but here's the link; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16557283

It's taking it too far, IMHO. I feel very uncomfortable, getting money on someone's death. Plopping Yitzhak Shamir on a list of 20 for "fun" is a lot easier to live with.

That's what I was thinking too - I'd never heard of Anderson before today, and it seems like Prowse was like one of those poor mugs who has to wear a giant costume to entertain the kiddies, and that was about it. No speaking, no lightsaber action.. just a bit of walking and pointing. Still, it's paid out well for him.

Another vote for James, but PD of that ilk. I'm slightly surprised there wasn't a triple James pick with Clive also being included, but I think it's a reasonable list overall.

Interesting pick. No updates to her thread for 5 and a half-years and one of those posts is to say she's in good health, two to say they thought she was a man and two to say that they knew someone similiarly named. So, it looks like she has been picked for age reasons only, I guess. Based on all the above evidence, I now fully expect her to be the first hit.

Now its safe from any US based late entries my DDP 20 are: Rex Barrett, Wilfred Benitez, Anthony Bevilacqua, Sir Rhodes Boyson, Dora Bryan, Glafcos Clerides, Lee Evans, Robin Gibb, Etta James (JOKER), Wojejch Jaruzelski, Anker Joergensen, Winnie Johnson, John McDowall, Dom Mintoff, Roschus Misch, Mesrob Mutafyan II, Mike Porcaro, Roy Salvadori, Yitzhak Shamir, Dame Lesley Strathie Just looking at the teams so far, there's possibly a few unique picks there. I gave up with Al Megrahi and I'll have to see if that costs me. But let us also congratulate Devon Death Trip on a deserved victory. I am hopeful this year that I have a team capable of performing well. I feel like I've got a lot to prove.

He's been rushed to hospital with chest pains - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16323794

MH, if you want a racing chap, take out van Lennep and put in Jean-Pierre van Rossem, who is well known in Belgium, but did also have a spell as a racing team boss. He's not been wonderfully well and is vastly overweight but I don't think he's about to drop immediately. Gijs van Lennep on the other hand looks good for at least 10-15 years.

Benefuxed?

Not only that TMIB, but keep this up and you could break the monthly hits record!.. Good riddance to bad rubbish, a DDP hit I'm delighted to take and it makes my final DDP 20 for next year a lot easier to decide too, as well as helping this years score much more respectable with three hits in the last couple of weeks.

Certainly is, link here- http://www.bbc.co.uk...t-arts-16239183 Yet another accidental death for the DDP 's annals, and this death is sure to enrage TMIB further after just doing his update earlier. Not a good month for DDP picks with a surname beginning with Wolf..